Huntsville City Council Talks Vaccinations, Boosters, and Masking

The nation’s Food and Drug Administration, which signed off on Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster shot last month, approved the same for Moderna and J&J boosters Wednesday night.

The FDA also gave the go ahead to mix-and-match with booster shots. Originally, the Pfizer booster was meant only for people who had taken the Pfizer vaccine previously. That’s no longer the case, with all three boosters available across the board to all who are fully vaccinated.

According to media outlet Nexstar, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also consult an expert panel later this week before finalizing its official recommendations for who should get boosters and when.

“The available data suggest waning immunity in some populations who are fully vaccinated,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease.”

At Wednesday’s weekly COVID-19 update at the Huntsville City Council chambers, Tracy Doughty, president and chief operating officer at Huntsville Hospital, had mostly positive statistics regarding the virus.

In Madison County, his system had 69 in-patients including four children with 12 in the Intensive Care Unit and eight on ventilators. Those 69 represent about half of inpatients from a month ago. Last week there were 95 inpatients in the Huntsville system.

Meanwhile, Crestwood Medical Center had eight inpatients with one in ICU and one on a ventilator.

“We’re thrilled the city’s numbers have come down and we are prayerful and we are hopeful they’ll continue to come down,’’ he said.

As of Wednesday, there had been 52,114 proven cases of the coronavirus with 694 deaths. The number of patients dying from COVID-19 was up by 18 in the past week with six since Monday.

But, as the latest surge begins to ebb, Doughty said healthcare officials are still concerned about low vaccination rates. Among the 69 in his system — which average the age 65 and are nearly split among the number of men and women — 70 percent are unvaccinated.

That’s an improvement from the 85-90 percent range that has been recently reported, but Doughty said now is not the time to relax.

“Studies have shown you’re 10 times more likely to be in the hospital if unvaccinated and/or die,’’ he said.

Doughty said he hopes the hospital will be “back to normal soon’’ regarding elective surgeries.

As for children ages 5-11 being OK’d for vaccines, Doughty said that could come in days or a month.

“We’ll await the state and federal government to let us know when and how and the dosing,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Karen Landers of the Alabama Department of Public Health continued to stress the importance of masking. She noted how masking mandates, at schools in particular, make “people angry.’’

However, she defends masks for students.

“The studies on this are clear,’’ Landers said, holding up sheets of four studies she’s read. “We’re talking about kids being in a close setting. We’re talking about kids in a congregate setting for a period of time.’’